Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004Show full title

Article 4 U.K.

1. All animals on a holding born after 9 July 2005[F1 or for Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia the respective date of accession] shall be identified in accordance with paragraph 2 within a period to be determined by the Member State as from the birth of the animal and in any case before the animal leaves the holding on which it was born. That period shall not be longer than six months.

By way of derogation Member States may extend the period, which may not, however, exceed nine months, for animals kept in extensive or free-range farming conditions. Member States concerned shall inform the Commission of the derogation granted. If necessary, implementing rules may be laid down in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 13(2).

2. (a) Animals shall be identified by a first means of identification which complies with the requirements of Section A.1 to A.3 of the Annex, and,

(b) by a second means of identification approved by the competent authority and conforming to the technical characteristics listed in Section A.4 of the Annex.

(c) However, until the date referred to in Article 9(3), the second means of identification may be replaced by the system set out in Section A.5 of the Annex, except in the case of animals involved in intra-Community trade.

(d) Member States which introduce the system referred to in (c) shall apply to the Commission to have it approved under the procedure provided for in Article 13(2). For this purpose the Commission shall examine documentation submitted by Member States and shall conduct the audits necessary to evaluate the system. When those audits have been completed the Commission shall, within 90 days of receipt of the request for approval, submit to the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health a report together with a draft of appropriate measures.

3. However for animals intended for slaughter before the age of 12 months and intended neither for intra-Community trade nor for export to third countries, the identification method described in Section A.7 of the Annex may be authorised by the competent authority as an alternative to the means of identification mentioned in paragraph 2.

4. Any animal imported from a third country, which has undergone after 9 July 2005[F1 or for Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia the respective date of accession] the checks laid down by Directive 91/496/EEC and which remains within the territory of the Community shall be identified, in accordance with paragraph 2, at the holding of destination where livestock farming is carried out within a period, to be determined by the Member State, of no more than 14 days from undergoing those checks and, in any event, before leaving the holding.

The original identification established by the third country shall be recorded in the holding register provided for in Article 5 together with the identification code allocated to it by the Member State of destination.

However, the identification provided for in paragraph 1 is not necessary for an animal intended for slaughter if the animal is transported directly from the veterinary border inspection post to a slaughterhouse situated in the Member State where the checks referred to in the first subparagraph are carried out and the animal is slaughtered within five working days of undergoing those checks.

5. Any animal originating in another Member State shall retain its original identification.

6. No means of identification may be removed or replaced without the permission of the competent authority. Where a means of identification has become illegible or has been lost, a replacement bearing the same code shall be applied as soon as possible in accordance with this Article. In addition to the code and distinct from it, the replacement may bear a mark with the version number of the replacement.

However, the competent authority may, under its control, allow the replacement means of identification to bear a different code, provided that the objective of traceability is not compromised, in particular in the case of animals identified in accordance with paragraph 3.

7. The means of identification shall be allocated to the holding, distributed and applied to the animals in a manner determined by the competent authority.

8. Member States shall communicate to each other and to the Commission the model of the means and the method of identification used in their territory.

9. Until the date referred to in Article 9(3), Member States which have introduced electronic identification on a voluntary basis in accordance with the provisions of Section A.4 and A.6 of the Annex shall ensure that the individual electronic identification number and the characteristics of the means used are mentioned in the relevant certificate pursuant to Directive 91/68/EEC accompanying animals involved in intra-Community trade.

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Council Regulation (EU) No 517/2013 of 13 May 2013 adapting certain regulations and decisions in the fields of free movement of goods, freedom of movement for persons, company law, competition policy, agriculture, food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy, transport policy, energy, taxation, statistics, trans-European networks, judiciary and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, environment, customs union, external relations, foreign, security and defence policy and institutions, by reason of the accession of the Republic of Croatia.